


Opening Night in London

by lionessvalenti



Category: Smash (TV)
Genre: F/M, Post-Series, Pregnancy, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 14:16:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5459456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionessvalenti/pseuds/lionessvalenti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ivy and Derek navigate pregnancy, their relationship, and theatre.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Opening Night in London

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lizimajig](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizimajig/gifts).



"We should move in together."

Five little words that Ivy never thought she'd hear from the mouth of Derek Wills. She nearly choked on her water. "You're kidding me, right?"

Derek got up from the couch and slowly crossed the main room into the kitchen where Ivy was standing. "I'm serious. It's good timing. I'm between projects and you're out of _Bombshell_ until after the baby's born--"

"Don't remind me," Ivy muttered. They'd been really great, letting out a couple of the more constricting dresses and even cutting the nude scene, but she was becoming obviously pregnant before she even knew it. She had asked her OB/GYN if there could be more than one in there because it seemed ridiculous to be this big at four months, but he told her that some people show earlier than others. Just one baby, which was a relief. She wasn't sure she could handle _one_.

When Tom came to her to talk about it, she didn't even make him say it. He promised her that the role was waiting for her when she was ready. It was a small comfort. She wanted to be working, and she didn't want to have to take a leave right after winning the Tony. There were tourists coming in from all over to see _her_. She didn't want to disappoint them by not being there.

"I was thinking we could find a new place," Derek continued. "Your place is too small and mine isn't practical for a baby."

Ivy looked up at him with a crinkled brow. "Who _are_ you?" She reached up and placed her hand to his forehead. "Are you sick? I think you might be having some kind of fever delusion."

He wrapped his hand around her wrist and gently pulled it away from his face. "I don't know what I have to do for you to believe me."

"I don't know either," Ivy replied with a laugh. "If we move in together, where are you going to take all those impressionable girls who want leading roles?"

Derek's hand slid up her arm to rest on her shoulder. "No girls. Just you."

It might have sounded like a line from a movie, but Ivy believed him.

* * *

When Ivy told Derek she was pregnant, he didn't believe her. She shouldn't have been surprised. He'd probably heard this one before (oh god, how many children did he have out there?), but he'd never heard it from her.

"Why do you think I'd make this up?" she asked. "Because I'm so desperate to keep you? I think we both know that's not true. I'd hope that you would know me better than that!"

"Maybe it's not mine," he replied, and even Ivy knew, by the look on his face, he wished he could take that back, but it was too late for that. He opened his mouth, but she held up a hand to silence him. Miraculously, it worked.

"The only way this conversation can continue is if I pretend you didn't just say that."

"We used condoms," Derek said, as if that settled it and there was no possible way she could be pregnant.

Ivy sighed. "I know, but nothing's a hundred percent. Look, we probably shouldn't talk about this here, but I've been trying to tell you for ages, and... there was never a right time. This isn't even the right time." She glanced through glass doors at the party on the other side. The night had been like a dream and she didn't want to ruin it now. Why had this seemed like a good idea? "Just let it sink in and we can talk again later, okay?"

Derek nodded, but when she turned away from him, he said, "Ivy."

She looked back and he kissed her. It was better than any kiss in a Marilyn movie, practically swept off her feet. She gaped up at him after he pulled away. Derek had no shortage of passion, but that was... different.

"Okay," he said.

"Okay?"

"We're having a baby. If that's what you want."

"Is that what you want?" Ivy asked. She wanted the baby, with or without him, but with him was all the better, even after everything. _Bombshell_ , Karen, Daisy, everything. God help her, she still loved him.

"I let it sink in," Derek replied. There was no uncertainty in his voice, though there never was. "Yes."

As if the night couldn't get anymore surreal.

* * *

Derek stood in the doorway to the bathroom of their new apartment. Ivy was pretty sure she'd think of it as "the new apartment" until the baby came, because right now it felt like someone else's home. Derek's home, probably. All of her stuff just happened to be there, too.

"They're starting up a production of _Hit List_ in London," he said.

"Whaaat?" Ivy pulled the toothbrush out of her mouth, and with a mouth full of foam said, "How are they doing _Hit List_ in London before _Bombshell_? No offense, but..."

"I believe they may be waiting for you."

"Oh." Ivy shoved the toothbrush back in her mouth. "Continue."

He smiled. "They asked me to come direct."

She spat into the sink. "Of course they did. Why wouldn't they? When do they want you there?"

"In two weeks." Derek made a face, but she couldn't read it.

"Two weeks," Ivy repeated. She did the math in her head. After casting, rehearsals, tech, and previews, the baby would probably be born on opening night. "You said yes, right?"

He shook his head. "I said I'd think about it, and I'd get back to them. They need me more than I need them."

Ivy could barely keep herself from rolling her eyes. The show, she was sure, would be just fine without him, but she knew that in his mind, it'd be a disaster. "But you want to do it?"

"I do. After the mess it became here, I want to do it right. I want to show everyone I can do it right. It just depends on you. The baby's going to be coming right in middle of everything."

"It's not that big of deal, Derek," she replied as she pushed past him. "I can have the baby by myself. I mean, I'll have a team doctors and nurses. I know the show's important to you--"

"Ivy."

"What?" She couldn't even look at him. She pulled open the closet doors and began rifling through her things. She'd been wearing the same blue and white striped cotton dress for three days. That had to end. "Theatre is your life. It's mine too and I know how bad it is for me to not be in a show right now, so it has to be just as bad for you to not be directing a show. We're people who need to work."

Derek placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face him. "Ivy. There are hospitals in London, too."

She wrinkled her brow. "I'm... aware of that?"

"I'm only going to do it if you want to come with me. You can have the baby in London, if that's what you want. If you want to have the baby here, we'll stay."

Tears began to fill her eyes, the goddamn hormones. "What?"

Derek smiled, and it was infuriatingly charming and adorable. "I know you think I'm the worst person in the world, and that I'm going to run the first chance I get, but you don't get to push me out the door. I'm not going to miss the birth of my child. I'm going to be there for you, whether you like it or not."

She stared at him like she'd never even seen him before, like someone had suddenly taken over his body, and she thought that even a possibility. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she pulled him into a hug. "Let's go to London."

* * *

Ivy felt like a giant sparkly bowling ball in her black evening gown. She would have worn something more casual, even to opening night, but she felt the urge to cover her swollen feet that only fit into flat sandals.

The London cast of _Hit List_ was fantastic, and she had expected no less, but never got quite comfortable in her tiny seat. By the time the show was over, her back was killing her and she had to pee.

"Do you want me to drop you off before the party?" Derek asked when she met him in the lobby after taking an embarrassingly long amount of time in the bathroom, between the narrow stall and her long dress. "I have to go, but they can wait for me."

"I want to go to the party," Ivy said. She took his arm. "I like parties, even when I'm the size of whale. I'll get some cranberry juice, find a comfortable chair, while everyone congratulates you on a job well done."

"And what did you think? Because it's the only opinion that matters."

She smiled. "I thought it was better here than on Broadway."

Derek snorted a laugh. "I wonder why."

"That's not what I meant," Ivy replied, laughing. "I'm over all of my Karen Cartwright grudges. I think the show is just more finely tuned here, that's all. Which is a feat considering your composer can't get a passport and had to do all his notes via Skype."

"Actually, now that you mention it, I think that's what made it better. Jimmy's talented, but a right pain in my ass."

Ivy laughed as their car pulled up to the sidewalk.

At the party, Ivy got her juice and her chair, one with a big, cushy seat and a pillow to shove behind her back. She rested a hand on her stomach while people she didn't know passed by. If they were in New York right now, she'd know half of the people in the room, and they would all know her. Here, she was alone.

Almost alone, she thought with a smile, resting a hand on her stomach.

Her smile faded just as quickly with a sharp pain in her side. She twisted, nearly spilling her drink in the process. She set the glass on the floor and tried to rearrange her pillow, but another jab hit in the exact same spot.

"Ow!" she cried, loud enough to catch the attention of some people around her. "I'm fine," she assured them. "I think."

"Should we call 999?" a woman asked.

"No, I just... I think I need find Derek," Ivy said. She managed to get out of the chair without another shot of pain, but that only lasted until she stood up. She teetered, almost losing balance. "Definitely need to find Derek."

With her hands placed firmly on her back, Ivy made her way through the room. Where was he? Was she going to have go it alone after all? Oh, Jesus, what if she was in labor and he was screwing a member of the ensemble? No, he was past that, wasn't he? Her heart was in her throat until she found Derek by the bar talking to someone she was pretty sure was a producer. He smiled when he saw her approaching, but his face turned to concern the second their eyes met.

"Are you all right?" Derek asked, reaching out to touch her arm.

"Remember that thing I said about the baby coming on opening night? I think it's happening right now." Ivy tried to grin, but it was probably more of a grimace. "We need to go."

He stared at her. "You're having the baby right now?"

"Hopefully in a few hours in a hospital, but essentially, yes."

"We have to go." Derek turned to the room and shouted, "I have to go! We're having a baby!"

The room cheered in response, and Ivy even managed a laugh and a wave before Derek ushered her out of the room, yelling at someone -- anyone -- to get their car.

"At least she waited until after the show," Ivy said, once they were out on the sidewalk. "But already a flair for the dramatic."

"Now, where could she have picked that up?" Derek asked, but he sounded distracted, staring up the street for the car.

"Heaven only knows." Ivy chuckled. She grabbed Derek's hand and he turned sharply to look at her. "I love you."

His shoulder dropped. He cupped her face and kissed her, just as the car pulled up beside them. "I love you, too."

* * *

The labor lasted twenty hours, but the pain, and the sweat, and the swearing was all forgotten when she caught sight of her squirming, red-faced, crying baby girl. Derek cut the cord, with a bit of a grin, and the nurses cleaned up the baby.

"How do you feel?" Derek asked.

Ivy fell back against the pillows. "Exhausted." She clasped his hand in hers. "Thank you."

He kissed her sweaty forehead. "My pleasure, Ivy Lynn." He glanced up at the nurse approaching with the baby, and stepped aside, so she could put the child in Ivy's arms.

"Oh my god, hello. Hello, my little Amelia. Look at you, look how beautiful you are." Ivy could barely tear her eyes away from her gorgeous child, but she managed to look up at Derek.

He had held her hand through every contraction, breathed along with her, and encouraged her with every push. Now, he looked like he didn't know what to do. He was staring at Amelia, at them both, in way Ivy had never seen before.

"Derek, come meet your daughter."

He didn't move. "I don't want to hurt her."

"You won't, she's fine, come here."

"Ivy, I -- I'm terrified." Not only that, he was vulnerable, something Ivy hadn't seen very often, not through his carefully constructed aura of confidence. Finally, a woman in his life he couldn't bear to hurt. Maybe, if she was extra lucky, two of them.

She laughed. "Me too! Now, come here. We'll do it together, okay?"

Derek approached the bed slowly, then curled up next to Ivy, his head resting on her shoulder. "I don't deserve her. I don't deserve you. I'm an asshole."

"Yeah, I know," Ivy said, gazing back down at Amelia. "But she doesn't know that, and she never has to. Our Amelia Leigh."

"So, you're certain about that middle name, then." Derek reached up and carefully cupped the back of Amelia's head. His thumb stroked her soft, dark hair.

Ivy chuckled fondly. "Believe it or not, I am. It just seems right. And it'll make a great stage name if she wants it."

He pressed a kiss to the side of Ivy's head. "And you're sure about the surname?"

"Absolutely," she replied. She glanced up at him, and he was actually a little misty-eyed. Something inside of her fell in love with him all over again. "Unless you're not sure."

Derek smiled, his eyes still on the baby. "Amelia Leigh Wills, it is."

**Author's Note:**

> I felt from your letter that you love Ivy and Derek the same way I do. I hope you enjoyed this story! Happy Yuletide!


End file.
